Earth to Zea Part 1
by princess-zea
Summary: Summary: When the half demon, Atuza daughter of tallest Red comes to Earth, Zim is in charge of her. Little does he know he is watching suicidal and traumatized child. Zim learns about her realm and species. Zea is a race I created called Atuza. Her father, Tallest Red, is irken and mother, Tilla, Queen of Atuzas (Tilla is dead.) Atuza DNA is dominate over irken DNA so Zea an Atuza


Earth to Zea

Chapter 1

"Space. Empty, cold and most of all, boring."

Zea stood at a window, staring into empty space. This was just like every other day on the Massive. Wandering aimlessly around with nothing to do while her father ate snacks and watched idiotic shows on a giant monitor.

Zea finally decided it was time to annoy the tallest into doing something.

Zea ran into the control room to find her father and Tallest Purple. She used her wings to help her jump on her father's PAK.

"DAD!" She yelled into Red's antenna. Making him jump.

"What!?" He yelled.

"I'm bored."

"You're always bored."

"Well what do you expect? There's nothing to do."

"That isn't my fault."

Zea started hanging upside down from the back of his chair. Red grabbed her tail and pulled her down into his lap.

"I wanna do something fun and new. I wanna go somewhere," Zea said.

"Well where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere new."

"You've been everywhere."

Purple suddenly butted into the conversation. "She hasn't been to Earth."

Red turned to him. His eyes were wide with anger. He whacked Purple over the head.

Zea looked at her dad. "What's Earth?" She asked.

"Why did you say that?!" Red yelled at Purple.

"Well I was just saying there is a place she hasn't been," said Purple.

"Are there any other Irkens or Atuzas there?" Zea asked.

"That's where Zim is," Purple answered.

Zea continued staring at her dad. "Can I go there?"

Red gave her a stern look. "No."

"Please."

"No."

"Come on."

"I said no."

"Why?"

"I don't trust Zim and I don't want you to get hurt!"

Zea was determined to go. "Please. Please. Please..."

Red pulled his antenna. "Zea please stop."

"Dad, I'm 17, I can manage on my own."

Red bit his lip nervously. Maybe he could trust her to be on her own.

He sighed. "Let me think about it. I'll tell you tomorrow. Now you need to go to bed."

Zea groaned. "Fine. Goodnight. Love you."

Red kissed Zea's star. "I love you too."

With that Zea left for her room.

"Are you going to let her go?" Purple asked.

"I don't know," Red sighed. "I guess I have to let her go eventually."

Chapter 2

Zim was in his lab, experimenting on ducks. GIR and Minimoose were playing go fish, but with real fish. It was rather quiet, until a sudden alarm went off.

The computer's loud voice rang out. "Incoming call from the Tallest."

Zim stopped what he was doing immediately. He pressed a button and the Tallest appeared on a large screen.

"Greetings my Tallest," Zim said, saluting his leaders.

"Zim," Red began to speak, "We have a very important mission for you. My youngest child, Princess Zea, has decided she wants to go on a new 'adventure' as she puts it. She wants to come to Earth. You are going to be making sure nothing happens to her."

Zim's eyes widened at the mention of the name Zea. Everyone new Zea was very sweet, but everyone also knew what she did four years ago.

"Is the young princess okay to be out of your supervision sir?" Zim asked Tallest Red nervously. "Is she still dangerous?"

"She is still very dangerous and has the demon inside her," Red said. He noticed Zim quiver in fear. "But she should be fine as long as you follow my instructions."

Zim began to record Red as he began listing of instructions and things to watch. "First, Zea loves her music and drawing. Make sure she always has paper, pens, music, headphones and her recording equipment. She uses it as an outlet for her thoughts and emotions. She often leaves them around when something is wrong and she doesn't want to bring it up. Second, if she gets upset you have calm her down. Third, if her star starts to turn black, call immediately. A black star means her demon is coming. Fourth, the most important of all, never let her take of her amulet, it keeps Thorn from taking her over. If she does, Thorn won't hesitate to take her over. If you see any signs of darkness, let me know immediately."

Zim shivered. Queen Thorn, the Demon Queen. Thorn was the horrifying demon that possessed Zea before she was even born. Thorn showed herself for the first time four years ago. She woke up her army of demons and wiped out nearly three different races. She was worse than the whole Irken army times 10.

Zim didn't want to disappoint his leaders. "It would an honor to guard Princess Zea," he said, though he was unsure if he meant it.

"She will be there tomorrow night," Red finished. And with that, he ended the call.

"GIR, MINIMOOSE!" Zim shouted at his minions. "Clean the base! It must be spotless for Princess Zea's arrival.

Chapter 3

"Zea."

Zea recognized her dad's voice.

She groaned. "I don't wanna get up."

"So you don't want to go to Earth?"

In a matter of seconds, Zea was up. She started to dig through her closet as her father explained the details.

"You can have your own place but it needs to be close enough to Zim that he can check on you, but far enough away that you don't get killed. And you have to call every day and visit at least twice a month."

"Okay!" Zea said excitedly.

Zea pulled a small teleporting device out of her closet and shoved it in a dark blue satchel. She fluttered happily to her bedroom door. Red quickly snatched her tale and pulled her back.

"What?" Zea whined, "You said I could go."

"And how are you going get there?" her father asked.

Zea quickly pulled a book out of her bag and started flipping through the pages. She finally stopped and showed her dad a spell written in Atuza. "A teleportation spell. It'll get me there in a snap!"

"Zea, your magic isn't strong enough to teleport you that far," said Red.

"I'll take breaks along the way. I'll be fine," Zea assured him.

Red's eyes started to glisten. He picked up Zea and held her close.

"Uh, dad? Are you crying?"

Red quickly rubbed his eyes. "Of course not. I'll just miss you," he replied.

Red kissed Zea's star. "I love you," he whispered.

Zea fluttered up into her father's arms and wrapped her tail around his upper arm. She kissed his cheek. "I love you too," she whispered.

Zea whispered a few words in Atuza and was surrounded by light, and with that, she disappeared and began her journey.

Chapter 4

Zim had been cleaning and organizing things for hours. He was just about finished a flash of light illuminated the kitchen, quickly fading away to reveal a young Atuza with bright blue eyes and long blue hair. She was standing on the kitchen table. She had on a jeweled tiara.

Zim recognized her as Princess Zea and quickly kneeled before her. Zea looked down to see Zim bowing in front of her. She glided down from the table and landed in front of Zim.

"Uh," Zea poked Zim's head. "Are you dead?"

Zim remained still. "No Princess, just showing respect."

Zea let out a small giggle. Zim didn't understand what she was laughing about. He slowly looked up to see Zea sitting in front of him, smiling. He quickly looked back down. Just as Zim looked down he began to levitate. He looked to Zea. She was now standing up. Her star was glowing. He remembered that an Atuza's star glows when they use their magic.

"You don't have to bow when you see me," she smiled, lowering Zim onto his feet. "I prefer being able to see you."

Zim looked at her. Zea was a little taller than Zim. "Sorry Princess Zea," Zim said softly.

"That's another thing," Zea said as she flew into the living room and sat on the couch. "You aren't allowed to address me as Princess."

She pat her hand on the other side of the couch, summoning Zim. Zim hopped up on the couch and sat next to her.

Zea continued, "You can call me Zea. I don't let friends address me formally."

Zim looked up at her wide eyed. "We're friends?" he asked.

"Of course," Zea said hopping down from the couch. She kneeled down on the ground. "Come here for a second."

Zim did as she said.

"Okay, now sit on your knees."

Zim once again complied with her request.

"Now, this is an Atuza thing, but even though you don't have wings or a tail, you can still do it," Zea said. "Now just do what I do."

Zea took off the fingerless gloves she was wearing and held up her hands. Zim took off his gloves and did the same. Zim held his hands a good inch away from her's.

Zea looked at Zim. "Our hands have to touch, Zim. And no, touching me won't hurt you."

It was like she knew what he was thinking. She could sense that he feared her. Zim cautiously pressed his hands against Zea.

Zea then spread her wings to their full extent. They were amazing. They were huge. Zim couldn't help but gasp. Zea giggled at his face as his mouth gapped open.

Zea then began to flick the end of her tail up and down. It made a consistent tapping sound. The clicking of her tail was soothing and peaceful.

Zea then leaned her antenna forward. Zim did the same. "They need to touch," Zea instructed. Zim did as she said and touched their antenna together.

"Ok, okay last thing," said Zea. "Now, if you were afraid to touch my hands, you aren't going to want to do this, but you have to trust me. I swear I won't hurt you."

Zim started to look uneasy. '_What is she going do to me?'_ He thought

"O-okay," Zim stuttered.

"Now, normally, two Atuza would press their stars together, but since you don't have a star, I'm just going to press my star against your forehead."

Zim hesitantly leaned in and Zea pressed her star to his forehead. Zea closed her eyes. Her star began to glow. Zim felt a sudden wave flow slowly and softly through his body. It brought a sweet sensation of peace and harmony through him. Zea's star slowly dimmed down until the glow disappeared.

"What was that?" Zim asked in awe.

"It's called the Arelsai, the connection. It's a promise of trust and companionship," Zea said softly. "It shows that I'm your friend, and that won't ever try to hurt you, as long I am in this conscious."

"Oh," Zim looked down and then back up at Zea. "Thank you," he smiled.

Chapter 5

Zea sat on a stool down in Zim's lab and watched as he worked.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Zim looked at her with an evil smile. "Working on my latest plan…TO DESTROY THE HYOOMANS!" he shouted.

Zea's eyes widened at the power of Zim's voice. _'How can something that small be so loud?' _

"So, what is this plan?" she asked.

"Well, it involves-"

Before he could finish a small green dog fell out of a shoot and land at Zea's feet, scaring Zea to fly up to the ceiling. She held tight to a cable.

"Zea, it's okay," Zim assured her. "There's someone you need to meet."

Zea cautiously fluttered down next to Zim. "Zea, this is GIR," he said as a robot crawled out of the dog suit, "He is my advanced SIR unit."

Zea remembered that the tallest gave him a robot made of trash. She remembered that she wasn't supposed to tell Zim the truth about GIR.

Zea bent down to GIR's level. "Hi GIR. I'm Zea."

GIR let out a short squeal. "You the princess master was talkin' bout?!"

"Um, yeah," Zea replied to the overly excited robot.

GIR let out a high pitched giggle and grabbed Zea's tail. "Ooo!" Then he grabbed one of her wings. "Ahhh!" He began to play with her hair. "Wow!" He then saw her sparkling star. "Pretty!" He rubbed her star. Zea's eyes suddenly closed and started to purr.

"Zea, what are you doing?" Zim asked the young Atuza.

"It feels good when you stroke my star," she informed him.

Zea let out a tired yawn. "I better go fix up my place. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I have to leave early in the morning," said Zim.

Zea looked at him. "Why?"

"Skool," he said.

"That's fine, I'll just come with you."

Zim turned to Zea in alarm. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Skool is filled with horrible Earth children. You'll be noticed if you don't have a disguise."

"No problem." Zea's star began to glow. She was surrounded by a blue light. As the light faded, Zim saw that Zea had turned into a young human girl. She had the same long, blue hair, but it now covered her forehead, hiding her star. She had fare, light colored skin. She had blue eyes with round pupils.

"Is this good?" she asked Zim.

Zim stood there, amazed by what he had just witnessed. He finally responded, "Uh-huh."

"Okay," Zea said, turning back into her original self. "See you tomorrow." A light surrounded Zea and she was gone.

Chapter 6

Zea and Zim were walking to skool.

"Zea, I need you to come in about five minutes after me," said Zim.

Zea looked at him, confused. "Why?"

"You need to make your first impression by yourself."

"I don't see the point in that, but whatever."

"Good. Now stay there for a bit." Zim ran ahead.

Zea waited five minutes before walking up to the skool. She was turning into the front of skool when a child with a giant head raced by her. The boy tripped on the cracked sidewalk. Without warning he felt a hand reach out and clasp onto his jacket and pull him up. He found himself face-to-face with Zea.

"Uh… hi," the boy said.

Zea looked at him and smiled. "Hi. You okay?"

The boy looked at Zea. "Um, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks," he scanned Zea. He didn't recognize her at all. "Are you new here?"

"Yes. I'm Zea by the way," she said sticking out her hand.

The boy hesitantly shook her hand. "I'm Dib." Letting go of Zea's hand.

Zea gave a quick bow. "It's nice to meet you Dib."

Dib walked to the door, Zea followed. "So, whose class are you in Zea?" Dib held the door open for her.

Zea pulled a sheet of paper out of her satchel. "Ms. Bitters."

"Oh, well then we're in the same class."

"Cool," Zea smiled.

Dib led her into the class room. Zea stopped and stood by Ms. Bitters' desk, while Dib took a seat at his desk. A tall thin figure appeared out of the shadows and stood over Zea, looking down at Zea.

"Are you Zea?" the figure asked in a hateful, raspy voice.

Zea looked up. She had an expression of complete terror.

"Y-yes," she whispered.

"Introduce yourself. And then sit down. And be quiet!" the monster hissed.

Zea turned to face a room full of children. Zea smiled half-heartedly. "Hello everyone. I'm Zea. It's nice to meet you all. So, yeah." Zea walked briskly to a seat by a window in the very back of the room. She wanted was much distance between her and Ms. Bitters as possible.

Zea pulled a sketchbook and a pen out of her bag. She looked up to see if anyone was watching her. She pulled out a pair of sea-foam green headphones and turned on her music. She began to draw a dragon like creature.

After about two hours a bell rang. Zea put her art supplies in her bag and put her headphones around her neck. She followed the class into the cafeteria. She found Zim and tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey, come with me," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just come on."

Zim groaned and proceeded to follow her. She led him to the table Dib was sitting at. Zim stopped in his tracks.

"We are NOT sitting with the Dib-monkey!" He shouted.

Zea turned to Zim and moved her hair to show him her star, then quickly covered it back up. Zim sighed and sat down next to Zea.

Dib looked up and glared Zim. "What are you doing here Zim?!"

Zim glared back at him and pointed to Zea.

Dib looked at Zea. "You know him?!" he asked alarmed. "He my worst enemy!" he shouted.

Zea looked at Dib. "Yes, I know Zim and you may be enemies, but for today, you're going to leave each other alone."

Zea's attention was drawn to a beeping noise. She looked to notice that a young girl with purple hair sitting next to Dib.

"Hey Dib," she said, "Who's this?"

Dib looked over to Zea "This is my little sister, Gaz. Gaz this is Zea."

Gaz looked up and studied Zea carefully. "Hi," she said in a dry, unhappy voice. Zea smiled at her. Gaz went back to her video game.

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Zea followed the other kids out to the playground. She saw Dib sitting on a bench writing on a note pad. She walked over to him and sat down.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"If I tell you you'll call me crazy," he said.

"No I won't."

"Yeah, you will."

"Trust me. If anyone here is crazy, it's me."

Dib sighed, "Zim is an alien."

"I know," Zea said.

Dib's eyes opened wide, "Wait, you do?!"

"It's pretty obvious," she said.

Dib just stared at her in disbelief. Zea began to wave her hand in front of Dib's face.

"You okay Dib?"

Dib shook his head to clear away the shock, "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am," Zea giggled. "And to prove it, I want you to come home with me after school. I have some stuff you might want to see."

Chapter 7

Dib followed Zea down the sidewalk. Dib was telling her about all his findings on Zim.

"And then, the alien menace will be destroyed!" he said happily.

Zea froze, causing Dib to run into her. Zea turned to face him. "Do you hate all aliens or only the ones that threaten Earth?"

"I've never met a nice alien so I don't know."

"But if you met a nice one would you be friends with it?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"Just wondering," she said, "This is it."

She pointed at little trail leading into the forest. Dib followed Zea down the trail. At the end of the trail was a fairly large house. In the front of the house there were gardens filled with colorful flowers and tall trees with bird feeders hanging from their branches. There was a rather large creek by the house.

Zea led him up a stone path and unlocked the front door. Dib followed her into a large room. The walls were covered shelves. There were hundreds of books neatly lined up on each shelf. She pulled out a large, brown book and began to flip through the pages. She stopped on one of the pages and slid the book to Dib.

"What's this?" he asked.

"These are Azaka. Spirits of light and peace," she said.

Zea told Dib about Azaka and many other species. The two of them shared stories about their paranormal encounters. About four hours later Dib left.

Zea closed and locked her door. Zea moved her hair off her star. It began to glow and Zea turned back into her original form. She smiled and let out a quiet sigh.

"Did you enjoy yourself, Princess?"

Zea jumped in alarm at the loud female voice of her computer.

"Jeez Co! You scared me half to death!" Zea shouted.

"Sorry your highness."

"It's okay," said Zea. "Co, what time is it?"

"The time is currently 7:23."

"Thanks. Now where is everyone?"

"When I saw you approaching with the human I put your pets in their play room."

"Well, let them out. I want to see them."

"As you wish."

Not five seconds later, a large, gold tiger-like creature with big ears, wings, a long tail with a tuft of purple fur on the end and a fluffy purple crest running from the top of its head to the end of its tail, ran to Zea and jumped on Zea. The creature pressed the purple star on its forehead against Zea's star. Zea scratched behind the creature's ears.

"Hi Lan," She said.

Zea was then surrounded by four other animals. One was a small red cat with sea foam green stripes, sea foam green mane and three long tails. Another, was a purple dragon, about the size of a husky, with orange spikes. Then there was a white dog like animal with wings and dark blue bangs. Finally, there was what can only be described as a phoenix.

Zea pet and hugged each of them before getting up and going into a large room with a screen the covered the entire back wall.

"Co, I need you to call my father," Zea ordered.

"Calling Tallest Red," said Co.

Zea sat in a chair in front of the screen. The screen opened up displaying her father. He was smiling at Zea, happy to see her.

"Hi beauty, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm good, how are you dad?"

"Good. What have you been up to?"

"Well…" Zea began to tell her father about what she had been doing on Earth. She was careful to make everything seem good and pleasant, making sure her father didn't worry about her getting hurt. Zea didn't bring up Dib or anything she told him.

"Alright Zea. One more thing," he said. "Is your star turning black at all?"

"No dad, it's fine," she said.

"Okay Zea. I love you."

"I love you, too"

The call ended.

Chapter 8

Zea headed up some stairs to her room. She had a big room with nearly white, light blue walls. There was a large monitor on one of the walls. She turned it on to see a video feed from a security camera on the Massive. Two Irkens were sitting in a room talking about Zea coming to Earth.

"Honestly, I'm glad that psycho is gone," said one of them. "She was nothing but trouble."

"I know right. I mean that whole 'black star' thing. She doesn't fight her dark side. If you ask me I think she wants to be Thorn. She wants to control everything." said another.

Zea glared at the screen, unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"She'll never change. She's not worth the empire's time," said the first Irken. "She's just too stupid to see that she's hopeless, not to mention worthless."

Zea's claws shot out of her finger tips, adding a good two inches to her fingers. She snarled and bore her sharp, dagger-like teeth. Zea dashed at the screen and dug her claws deep into it. She began shredding the glass. She ran across the top of the screen on all fours. She pierced into the side of with her teeth. She released her bite and started to stab the screen with the sharp spike on the end of her tail.

"I CAN'T HELP IT! I HATE BEING THORN! I'M NOT HOPELESS! I'M NOT WORTHLESS!" she screeched.

She ran into her bathroom and closed the door. Zea filled her bath tub with water and grabbed a razor out of one of her drawers. She turned on the shower and got in fully clothed. She sobbed for a moment. Then she slid the razor across her wrist. Her blood leaked into the tub, turning the water green.

She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Her lower arms were dripping blood. Zea looked in the mirror to see her star. Zea's originally light blue star was dark blue. Zea began digging through a drawer. She pulled out some blue and green makeup. She began covering it in the light blue makeup to hide the dark so no one knew that her darkness was returning. She then covered the cuts on her arms with green makeup.

Zea got into her bed and turned the lights off.

"No one can know," she whispered.

This continued for the next week.

Chapter 9

The next day Zea woke up and got ready for skool. She Zim at his house and walked to skool with him. Zea was silent on the way there.

Zea sat down at her desk and took out her art supplies and headphones. She began to draw while Ms. Bitters lectured the class about how everyone will die a painful death. Zea didn't listen, she just drew what looked like a female demon, covered in horns and spikes.

Zea didn't go to the cafeteria at lunch. Instead she climbed into the ceiling and watched everyone through the vents. At recess Dib noticed Zea walking towards a tall tree.

"Zea!" he shouted after her.

Zea paid no attention to him. In a matter of seconds Zea climbed up the side of the tree with no trouble. She was like a spider. Zea sat up in one of the top branches, surrounded by leaves so no one could see her. Dib stared at the tree.

"How did she do that?" Dib asked himself.

He ran over to the tree and saw Zea, buried deep in the branches.

"Zea!" he yelled.

Zea jumped and spun around. Her eyes were wide. "What?" she asked in an annoyed voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Then come hang out with me."

"That's not a good idea."

"Why"

"Look Dib!" she shouted. "I'm too dangerous to be around! I don't want to hurt anyone again! I'm not like other people! I'm not even like my own kind!"

Dib was startled by her sudden hostility. "What do you mean, 'your own kind'?" he asked. "Wait, you aren't human are you?! That's how you knew all those things!"

"Took you long enough to figure it out!"

"You're an alien?! That's how you know Zim! Looks like I have two monsters to destroy!"

Zea scoffed. "Yeah good luck with that."

Dib glared at her. "You don't think I can kill you?"

"No, I don't. Because you can't demons."

"Demons? What does this have to do with demons?" Did asked, obviously confused.

"I'm not just an alien, I am a demon!" she screeched. "I am not harmonious like the rest of my people! I am worse than every Irken combine! I am worse than the most powerful Atuza warriors!"

"What's an Atuza?" Dib asked.

Zea jumped down from the tree and grabbed Dib's shoulders. A sudden flash of light blinded him for a few moments. When Dib could see again, he found himself in a room full of gemstones and unusual relics.

"I am an Atuza! I am Princess Zea!" he heard Zea yell.

Dib looked up to see an irken like creature. It had large wings, long blue hair, a long tail with a spike on the end and a blue star on its forehead. It had bright blue eyes and no pupils.

"Zea?" said Dib.

Zea turned to look at him. She knelt down in front of him. Zea looked at him with worried and guilty eyes. Zea used her wing to pull him closer to her. She noticed he was out of breath and his skin was nearly white.

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Zea picked him up and flew into her room. She put Dib on her bed and injected a purple liquid into his body. As soon as the medicine got in his system he shot up with wide eyes. He jumped back at the sight of Zea.

"You…" before he even finished, Dib sprinted out the door and left.

Chapter 10

Later that night Zea called her father and said everything was great. However, that was a complete lie.

Later that night Zea's emotions got the best of her. The words that others said rang through her mind. 'Crazy,' 'Stupid,' 'Worthless,' 'Hopeless' and worst of all, 'Evil.'

Zea's mind raced with a mixture of rage, sorrow and guilt.

Zea ran up to her bathroom. She turned on the shower and took off all her clothes, except for her bra and underwear. She then got out a knife. Zea's blood began to drip as she cut her arm from her elbow to her wrist. She dug the blade into her skin, deeper than she had ever cut before. Her blood oozed out in a thick stream. Zea then cut her other arm in the same way.

Zea started to carve Atuzan letters into her skin. She spelled out multiple words and strange symbols into her. She moved to her stomach and continued writing. When she ran out of room there, she began to carve into her legs and back. Finally, she carved into her face. She even carved a little bit into wings and tail. The only thing she hadn't cut was her star. Blood drizzled down every part of her body.

Zea turned off the water. Her hair was matted with blood. She wiped off the blood covering her. Zea stared at her cuts. After looking at them for about five minutes, Zea got into her bed and stared at her ceiling. She never went to sleep.

Chapter 11

The next day, Zea didn't come to school.

"DIB- STINK!" Dib jumped at the sound of Zim's voice. "What did you do to Zea?!"

"Nothing! Why do you blame me?" Dib shouted.

"You were the last one to be with her and last night her father called me saying that Zea seemed very distressed! So unless you want the seriously pissed off Armada to brutally mutilate you; TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO THE PRINCESS!"

Everyone stared at the two with wide eyes. For the first time, Zim didn't seem to care that the humans were staring at him.

"Look, if it makes you happy, I'll go with you to show you nothing's wrong!" Dib hissed.

After skool, Zim wasted no time going to Zea's house. Zim knocked on Zea's door.

"I heard you the first twenty times! Now what do you want!" shouted a female computer voice.

"Where is Zea!?" Zim shouted.

"In her room. I don't know what she's doing though, she shut off any cameras in her room."

"Have you heard anything?" Dib asked. He was concerned as to why she would turn off the cameras.

"It has been very quiet for the past hour but earlier it was non-stop screaming and crying. I tried to call the Tallest but she destroyed all means of communication. I fear she attempted it again."

Zim's eyes widened in horror. "Let us in NOW!" Zim shouted in alarm.

The door swung open. Zim stormed in and headed to Zea's room, Dib following close behind. Zim opened Zea's door and began searching her room. He was sent into immediate distress when he saw broken devices on the floor. Dib walked in and immediately slipped on a strange substance. It was green and fairly thick.

"Zim, what's this?" Dib asked weakly.

Zim analyzed the substance. Zim noticed a trail of it leading to Zea's bathroom.

"Blood," he whispered in terror.

Dib jumped up and took off his now blood soaked coat. Zim followed the trail of blood and opened the bathroom door.

"SWEET MOTHER OF IRK!" he shrieked.

Dib ran over to see what was there. He immediately regret it.

Zea was laying on the floor in a pool of green blood. Zim grabbed Zea. Her body was covered in cuts, several of which were bleeding. Dib looked at Zea with wide and worried eyes. Zea was sobbing uncontrollably.

"What have you done?!" Zim said in a distressed voice.

Zea couldn't answer. She just kept crying.

"Dib! She's losing a lot of blood! I need you to get some towels!" Zim ordered.

Dib obeyed and got up to grab some towels. He gave them to Zim, who carefully wrapped them around Zea's bleeding body. Zim held Zea and close.

"Oh Zea…"

Zea continued to cry as her other cuts stopped bleeding.

Dib watched in horror and fear as Zim held the crying princess close. Zea's cries began to subside. She fell silent. Dib and Zim noticed that she had fallen asleep.

"Help me get her to her bed," said Zim.

Dib helped Zim put Zea on her bed. Zim pulled the covers over Zea, while Dib walked over to a chair and watched. Zim walked over to him, glaring.

"How dare you upset her?!" Zim whispered in rage.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!"

"Well clearly you did, because she did it again!"

"Well I- Wait, again?" Dib asked.

"Wouldn't you try to kill yourself if you were possessed by a demon before you were even born?" Zim hissed.

"She's tried to kill herself?"

"Five times. One time she succeeded, but Thorn wouldn't let her stay dead for long."

"I just left when she flipped out and showed me she was an alien," Dib confessed.

"Well that just added on to her self-hate. She is already trash talked enough," Zim hissed. "You better be ready to make it up to her!"

Zim noticed Zea stir in her sleep, noticing the argument.

"Leave before you make matters worse," Zim hissed.

Dib got up and left. He felt a sharp stab of guilt inside him. 'She might be an alien, but she clearly has feelings,' he thought. "I need to make this right!" Dib said to himself.

Chapter 12

"SHE DID WHAT!" Tallest Red was freaking out after hearing what happened to his daughter.

"I took care of it," Zim assured his leader. "She's fine now. I cleaned up the cuts and took away all her knifes. She's feeling a lot better."

"Bring her here," Red ordered.

Zim obeyed. He brought Zea in front of the monitor. Zea's eyes looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact with her father.

"Look at me Zea!" he shouted at her. "You got yourself into this, now you have to face the consequences!"

Zea hesitantly looked up at her father to meet his glare. Zea was on the verge of tears.

"Cuts," Red ordered. Zea lifted up her shirt to show him the cuts on her stomach. She showed him her legs and wrists. At the sight of his youngest child, Red seemed that he was about to cry as well.

"Why do you do this?" he pleaded. "I lost your mother. How do you think I would feel if I lost you too?"

Zea finally broke down. "I'M SORRY! THE PAIN JUST REMINDS THAT I'M NOT COMPLETELY A DEMON!" Zea's whimpers and cries filled the room. Her father's gaze softens up.

"Zea, you only became Thorn once. It's not a big deal." He whispered. "You're coming home."

"NO!" Zea shouted. "I like it here! Please, I won't cut again if you let me stay! Please Daddy!"

Red thought about this. "Go get Zim," he said.

Zea grabbed Zim, who was in the next room over, listening to the conversation.

"Yes my Tallest?" said Zim.

"Watch Zea. If this happens again, she will return to the Massive and you will suffer the consequences for letting my child get hurt on you watch!"

Zim looked up fearfully. "Yes sir."

"Good. Zea, be a good girl. I love you."

"Love you too Dad."

The transmission ended. Zea rubbed her eyes and turned to Zim.

"I'm going to make something to eat," she told him. And with that, she flew away.

Chapter 13

Zea was laying on her couch watching some TV show when she heard a knock at the door. She turned into a human and answered the door. She opened it up to see a surprising sight. Dib was standing at her door he was holding a handful of flowers.

"Hey Zea," he said with a shy smile. He handed her the flowers. "How are you?"

"Fine. Thank you for the flowers," she said. "I'm going to put these in some water. You can have a seat in there," Zea pointed to the room where she had been watching TV.

Dib's eyes widened when he saw what she had been watching. She was watching Mysterious Mysteries. Zea returned, now in her Atuza form. She landed on the couch next to him. A flame colored bird swooped down and landed on her shoulder.

"Wow! Is that a phoenix?" Dib asked excitedly.

"Well you certainly have a good eye for magical creatures," she smiled, rubbing the bird's head. "This is Fan."

Fan cawed at the sound of her name. Dib smiled. "Can I pet her?" he asked.

"Sure." Zea a clicking noise and the bird immediately flew over to Dib and landed on his leg. He began rubbing the top of Fan's head, making her purr in delight.

A clanging noise suddenly rung throughout the room, followed by a bright red fox like animal with sea foam stripes, sea foam mane and three tails bolt into the room and jump onto Zea's lap. A lion creature with big feathered wings, large ears and a purple crest, raced in after the smaller creature.

"No Lan! Bad!" Zea scolded the large creature.

It sat down and its ears drooped down in regret. Dib just sat there looking at the odd animals.

"What are those?" he asked.

"That's Lan, she's an Amegra," Zea pointed at the bigger animal. "And that's Raz, she's a Cormoc," Zea pointed at the animal in her lap. "They're creatures from my home world."

Zea noticed that Dib had started staring at her. He seemed to be analyzing her.

"Um, why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"What? Oh, it's just that you look Irken but you have wings, a tail and hair."

"Don't forget the star," she said, pointing to her star.

"Yeah, but do you want to destroy everyone, too?"

"Oh no, not at all. My people only attack when threatened."

"So you're not dangerous?"

"Oh I'm dangerous alright, actually I'm one of the most dangerous things in all the realms. But you only need to worry when I'm Thorn."

"What's Thorn?"

At this question Zea stared at her feet. "Thorn is the demon that possesses me. Before I was born, the demon known as Queen Thorn took over part of my soul. If she isn't kept under control, I lose my conscious and it is replaced with her mind. I grow spikes and horns, my eyes turn dark and I grow two more tails and my star turns black."

Dib was too shocked by this to realize Zea was tearing up. "I hurt people. I don't want to, but Thorn makes me."

Dib finally noticed Zea's sobs. Zea brought her knees up to her chin and started rocking back and forth. "That's one of the reasons I cut. It reminds me that I'm not a complete demon."

"Well, it's not your fault," Dib said as he reluctantly pat her back.

Before he could think, Zea spun towards him and threw her arms around him. Dib was in shock. She was hugging him. He didn't want to admit it, but it was kind of nice. Plus, he could tell that that she wasn't acting, she was really upset. Dib suddenly felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down to see it was Zea's tail

"What are you doing?" Dib asked.  
>Zea hadn't noticed that she had wrapped her tail around Dib's leg, not to mention hug him.<br>"Oh," she quickly released him and his leg. "Sorry, it's just something Atuza tend to do when...well..."  
>"When what?" Dib asked.<br>"My people do it to show that they care and, well, feel trust and compassion for another. Though, if you had a tail, I would have grabbed that. I actually didn't realize how much I care about you."

Zea blushed as the last few words escaped from her mouth.  
>"Well, you don't have to stop if you don't want to. It's ok if you keep doing it," Dib said softly.<br>Zea blushed even more as she recoiled her tail around his leg and lay down on him.

Dib noticed a picture on the coffee table. "Who's that?" he asked.

Zea looked at the photo and grabbed it with her tail. "It's my family."

"Your family?"

"Yeah. My dad, Tallest Red, my big sister Rin, my oldest sister Siv, her twin Vix, who's my older brother, and my…"

Zea fell silent as she stared at the tall blue eyed Atuza with blue hair with pale blue streaks and tips. The person looked almost like an angel.

"You're what?" Dib asked.

She snapped out of her trance. "Queen Tilla, my mom."

"Figures, you look like her."

Zea sighed. "I miss her."

"Then why don't you visit her?"

"She died four years ago."

Dib's eyes shot open at her words. Zea had lost her mother, like him. "I lost my mom too."

Zea looked at him with glazed eyes. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "Do you want to see something?" she asked.

"Sure."

Zea got up and took his hand. She led him up some stairs to a balcony. It was night time and the stars were shining.

"My mom had a thing for stars. She said that each star was part of the song that makes up the universe and each constellation was the spirit that sang the stars it was made of."

"The universe is a song?" Dib asked.

"Well, I don't know if the stars do this here, but when everything is quiet, you can hear the stars ring. They create a sweet melody that lulls you to sleep…" Zea yawned and dozed off, resting her head on Dib's shoulder.

"Maybe I'll just sleep out here. After all, it's too late to walk all the way back home," Dib said to himself.

Dib lay down on his back and moved the sleeping princess next to him. Zea wrapped her tail around his leg. Dib soon fell asleep alongside Zea.

Chapter 14

Dib woke up to find Zea was gone. However, there was a button that said 'Press to find Zea'. Dib pressed the button and was teleported into a kitchen where there was a warm breakfast for him. He also found another note that said, 'I will be right back.'

Right when he finished reading the note Zea came into the kitchen. She was in her human form. She sat down and levitated some eggs and biscuits over to her.

"So how'd you sleep?" she asked with a smile.

"Good," he said.

"Did you hear the stars?"

"No, did you?"

"Yeah, it was beautiful."

"Why couldn't I?"

"You don't really know how."

"What?"

"I'll explain later."

The two finished eating. Zea walked into a small room and got some bird seed. She went outside and filled the bird feeders in front of her house. She turned to Dib.

"Let's go," she said.

"You're going to skool?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

Dib followed Zea as she headed in the direction of the skool. As they walked Zea began to ask Dib about certain aspects of Earth culture. The two walked into skool, smiling and having a light hearted conversation. Everyone stared at them. All the children were amazed to see Dib talking to someone who wasn't insane. The people in the halls began to whisper about the two. As Zea and Dib walked into the classroom together, one of the students shouted something.

"Dib has a GIRLFRIEND!" the child yelled.

Everyone immediately looked at Zea and Dib. The two of them stopped at this comment. They were shocked.

"What? No were just friends," said Zea.

Zea noticed Zim glaring at her and Dib. As the day continued Zim watched them. He was sure something was going on.

When Zim got home he called the Tallests.

"I hate to tell you this, but I think she has been having relations with one of the humans."

Zea's father spit out his drink. "WHAT?!" he screamed. "Are you sure?!"

"I noticed her spending a lot of time with him," he informed him. "So I began to watch her, and I got these photos."

Zim showed some pictures of Zea and Dib sitting close to each other and laughing. The worst one was a picture of Zea leaning on Dib as she was reading.

Red glared at the images. "Set a course for Earth!" he shouted at the pilots. "Zea's coming home."

The screen went black. Zea stood in the corner where she had been hiding. Her eyes were full of fear, sorrow and most of all, anger.

Chapter 15

Zea ran into her room. She looked at the mirror. She felt a horrible sense of betrayal. As she focused on her she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. She winced as something sharp emerged from her skin. She saw three spikes sticking out of her elbow. She squealed a little as she felt a similar sensation pulse through her head. She looked in the mirror to see two small knobs on either side of her head. However, that wasn't all she noticed. She saw her star was fading to black.

"No," she whispered to herself. "Not again."

She rushed out of her house and flew to Dib's house. She landed on his window sill and knocked on the glass. Dib opened the window.

"Hi Zea, how are-"

"Get your sister," she cut him off.

"What?" Dib asked utterly confused.

"JUST DO IT!" she yelled.

Dib was in shock. Zea was usually so sweet. What was wrong with her? Dib obeyed and told Gaz that Zea was really messed up about something.

When the Dib and Gaz entered, Zea grabbed onto one of their hands. "We need to make a circle," she said.

The three of them formed a circle. Zea began to mutter words in Atuzan as she began to perform the ritual she had done when she met Zim. After doing this for about five minutes she stopped.

"My father thinks we are together, Dib," she said. "He's coming to Earth to take me home. The anger and sorrow I feel are setting Thorn free. She might come back. You need to prepare for an invasion of Thorn's demon army in case she returns. The spell I preformed will help protect you."

An alarm went off on her phone. "My father is here," she said. "It was great to meet you," she gave each of them a hug and left.

Zea returned to Zim's house. Her father was standing in the middle of the living room.

"Come on Zea," Red said to his daughter.

"It was a pleasure to have you here. Goodbye Princess Zea," Zim waved goodbye.

Zea said nothing. She didn't even look at him. She followed her father into a shuttle that flew them to the Massive. Zea entered the Massive and walked straight to her room and locked the door. Zea then began to cut herself again.

Chapter 16

Zea finally came out of the room after two days on the Massive. Her eyes were dark. She had the cuts from a razor clearly visible. She walked into a room where she found both Tallest waiting for her.

"What have you been doing Zea?" Purple asked her. "You haven't left your room in two…"

He trailed off when he saw her cuts. "Red," he whispered, pointing at her arms.

Red saw his young daughter's cut up arms. "ZEA!" he shouted as he got up and grabbed her right arm. "What did you do!" he shouted at her.

Zea faced her father. The Tallest both jumped in shock as they saw her dark eyes. She had an expression of pure hate. Zea ripped her arm out of her father's grip.

"Leave me alone," she hissed.

"What is wrong with you?" Red asked reaching toward her.

Zea snapped her jaws and hissed. She jumped on a wall and climbed up it. Two horns suddenly grew out of her head. Zea began to rip up the wall. Purple quietly pressed the panic button on the wall, Red just stared at Zea as he realized she was turning. Three guards came in with guns. Zea saw them in the corner of her eye.

Zea suddenly launched herself off the wall and flew toward one of the guards. In a matter of seconds the guard was gasping for breath as Zea bit into the Irken's neck. Zea was too busy killing the guard to realize the Irken aiming a gun at her. Suddenly, Zea saw nothing but darkness.

Zea's now dark eyes opened. She was in electric shackles. She hissed and growled.

"Zea! Remember who you are!" she heard her father plea.

Zea thrashed around and screeched. Zea now had five horns growing out of her skull, three spikes grew from each elbow and shoulder, she had a spiked spine, barbed heels and three spiked tails. Her star was almost completely black.

Without warning, a barb flew from the tip of one of her tails and hit one of the Irken guards in the chest. She laughed darkly at the death. Red and Purple watched in horror as the demon Thorn took over the young Atuza's mind. Suddenly Zea froze. Her star was completely black. A dark light covered Zea. As the dark faded, a creature with three inch claws, dark blue hair and eyes and four wings became visible. With great ease, the demon broke the shackles that held her. She stretched her limbs and smiled. Thorn had returned.

Thorn chuckled. "It's good to be back," she said in a sharp voice.

Thorn quickly picked up one of the guards with each of her tails. Black mist started to flow from eyes. She breathed in deeply. Each of the three Irkens' eyes roll back into their head. Green vapor flowed from his mouth and Thorn sucked in the mist. As Thorn took in more and more, their skins dangled loosely off their bodies. The vapor stopped coming out. Thorn had sucked their souls out, not leaving a drop behind. Thorn closed her mouth and smiled, showing her long, dagger-like teeth. She squeezed her tails around the soulless bodies. The bodies began to crumble into dust.

Thorn unraveled her tails and looked at the Tallests.

"If you would excuse me, I have a war to wage," she hissed with a smile.

Thorn dissolved into a black mist. As the mist cleared, Thorn was gone.

Chapter 17

Thorn glided into a deep cave under a range of dark, sharp mountains. She landed on a cliff. The walls of the caves were covered in dark blue cocoons. Thorn picked up a black staff that was decorated in dark blues and greens. She held it tightly in her grasp. The dark blue pendant that sat on the top of the staff began to glow.

"Wake up my children," she whispered gently. "Your mother has returned."

With those words, a blue light emitted from each cocoon. The casings began to crumble as the creatures inside started to tear through. Spiked creatures with dark green and gray scales and dark eyes. They hissed softly as they looked up to see their queen. Their faces showed an expression of joy at the sight of their 'mother.'

"My darlings," she purred. "How I've missed you. I have returned to lead you once again."

She paused as she took a moment to look at her followers. "Last time we came so close to enslaving this wretched universe. But our efforts were brought down by Tilla! She resealed me in Zea and kept me locked away for four years! But now, Tilla is dead. So she can't beat us again!" she shouted.

The swarm yowled and roared in agreement as their queen continued. "And we will take this universe for the darkness! We have strength and numbers, so we will have the final laugh! With careful planning and patience, we will succeed! It is time to prepare for war!"

Her demon followers cheered and howled. They began to sharpen weapons and polish their armor. Thorn laughed maliciously. She walked smoothly out onto a balcony that overlooked a dark land. She sighed was she admired her kingdom.

Thorn then walked to the highest level of the mountain fortress. She went into a room that had a dark colored bed. It was full of relics and weapons. In front of a large window was a glass case. The case contained a very dark, blue cape, armor made out of a dark metal and a metal crown covered in dark jewels.

Thorn opened the case and picked up the crown and placed it on her head. "This time," she whispered to herself, "We will triumph."

The next day Thorn met with her advisors to discuss the war plans. Thorn sat at the head of a long, stone table. There were five of her advisors sitting at the table with her.

"Your Highness, our warriors are ready to fight," said one with dark green eyes.

"Good," said Thorn. "I have been thinking about where to strike first. I believe we should start small. I was recently on a planet known as, Earth. They have no alliance with any other race and are unaware of our existence. They will be unprepared against an attack."

"Very good my queen," said a different advisor.

"Then call everyone to The Cliff," Thorn ordered.

Once everyone had gathered at the biggest cliff in the mountains. Thorn stood on the peak to address her subjects.

"The time has come my darlings," she began. "War is upon us. Our first target is Earth. The pilots will come in and deliver the ground forces. I will give them the choice to give me their loyalty. And if decline; well, you know what happens next…"

The demons hissed in pleasure. They knew that the thing that happens next was a raid of epic proportions. It also meant all the souls they could consume…

Chapter 18

Zim was in his base when the security system went off. Zim looked up in alarm. He quickly put on his disguise and went up to the house. There was a continuous knocking on the door. Zim groaned as he opened the door. To his surprise, he saw Dib standing at the door with an urgent look on his face.

"Zim! I need your help!" he begged.

"I don't help you Dib-stink, now be gone," he hissed.

"But it's Zea!"

"The princess is safe back on the Massive! Now leave!"

"She said Thorn was coming!"

Zim froze at the mention of Thorn. "Thorn?"

"Yeah, what is that?"

"Are you sure she said Thorn?"

"Yes! Now what is that?"

"If I tell you about her you'll nightmares for the rest of your life," Zim warned him.

"Yes! Now tell-, wait? Her?" Dib asked.

"Computer, bring up all information on Queen Thorn."

"Queen Thorn," the computer began. "The demon that inhabits Princess Zea. Thorn originated from the demon Queen, Tarocavaxa, more commonly known as Queen Thornsoul. Thornsoul was weakened in a battle between her and Queen Tilla. Thornsoul sought out a being that was close to the royal family. When Tilla's youngest daughter was conceived, Thornsoul took refuge in the young princess. Thornsoul's weakened spirit took over half of Princess Zea's soul. When Zea feels a negative emotion, Thornsoul feeds of the bad vibes. The more negative energy Zea is exposed to, the stronger Thornsoul grows. This continues until Zea is taken over by the demon queen, turning her into Queen Taroca, or Queen Thorn. Thorn, like Thornsoul, feeds of the souls of other beings. The same applies to Thorn's demon army, known as, 'The Swarm.' Thorn has only fully surfaced once. After destroying three alien races, Thorn was defeated by Queen Tilla. However, Tilla was killed before she could pass on the knowledge of how she defeated Thorn. There is no known method of defeating Queen Thorn."

"Show pictures," Zim ordered.

"The few pictures of Thorn were taken before Thorn killed the photographer. Only one of the photographers is known to still be alive," the computer informed Zim and Dib as it displayed the photos.

Many of these pictures were taken while Thorn was charging at the person. The pictures showed the horrific demon known as Thorn. Thorn was often covered in blood, sucking out souls or straight up mutilating a person.

Zim shuddered, "That's enough."

The computer closed out of the information. Zim looked to Dib. Dib was now extremely pale, his eyes were full of fear.

"Zea really is a demon?" he asked quietly.

"She can't help it," said Zim. "And if Thorn really is coming then Earth needs to prepare for a full scale war."

"How do we warn Earth?" Dib asked franticly.

"Well, I could hack into the Earth broadcast system," said Zim. "But why would I help you?"

"So you aren't killed by that psycho!"

"Oh…"

An hour later, Zim and Dib were ready to send out the warning. Dib stood in front of a camera. Every screen on Earth shifted to a video of Dib.

"People of Earth," he addressed the confused and frustrated viewers. "A demon army is coming to destroy us. Their leader is relentless and powerful. We need to gather all of Earth's people and prepare for the coming-"

He was cut off by a booming sound and the ground shaking.

"She's here," Zim whispered.

Not minute later, there were several crashing sounds coming from the upper levels of the base. Suddenly, five of Thorn's demons came bursting through the ceiling. The creatures hissed and snarled. They charged at Zim and Dib. Without giving the two the slightest chance to defend themselves, the demons grabbed Zim and Dib. After feeling a quick prick, everything went black.

Chapter 19

Hours later, Zim and Dib woke up chained to the ground. They were in a dark room full of humans who were also chained down.

"Where are-", Dib was cut off when one of Thorn's demons wacked him in the back of the head.

Zim couldn't help but laugh at this. His laughing earned him a strong hit as well.

"Silence!" the demon hissed. "You are not allowed to speak! If you make a sound once the Queen arrives, your body will be sucked clean of its soul!"

Just as the creature finished speaking, a loud humming sound followed by a loud crashing sound.

Queen Thorn appeared out of a thick cloud of black mist.

"Ladies and gentlemen." She announced. "It is with great pleasure that I announce the end of your civilization. If you would like to live, all that is required of you is you to put me in control of your souls, showing me that your loyalty resides with me. If not..." Thorn paused. "Your life force will surely make a good treat."

"We will never give our souls to you!" shouted a man in the crowd of humans.

Thorn's eyes flashed as she turned to him. With a wave of her hand, the man was harshly levitated to meet Thorn face to face. A black mist started to flow from Thorn's eyes. She opened her mouth and began to deeply breathe in. The man's eyes roll back into his head, his eyes were now white and his mouth hung open. A white mist flowed from his mouth and Thorn sucked in the mist. As Thorn took in more and more, the man's body began to pale and shrivel up. His skin dangled loosely off his body. The mist stopped coming out.

Thorn closed her mouth and smiled. She dropped the body. When it hit the floor it shattered into dust. Everyone just watched, absolutely horrified. Thorn looked out at the crowd with a smile.

"Anyone else?" She asked maliciously.

At the sight of this, everyone knelt down in front of the demon queen. That is, everyone but Zim and Dib. Thorn narrowed her eyes at them.

"My apprentice," Thorn called. "Retrieve the two disobedient ones."

To Dib's horror, Gaz appeared next to Thorn. Gaz was wearing a black dress and had a black pendant on her head. Gaz approached Zim and Dib with her usual expression. She pulled out some keys and two pairs of handcuffs. She put a set of cuffs on each of their wrists and unlocked the chains holding them to the ground.

"Gaz! I'm your big brother and I will not allow you to be that monster's apprentice!" Dib shouted.

Gaz turned to Dib. A pair of wings flared up from her back. She then began to swish her new tail around. "Thorn understands me," she hissed. "She has taken me under her wing and is showing me what I am truly capable of."

Dib starred at Gaz's wings and tail in terror. "What did she do to you?" Dib whimpered.

"She has given me all I could ever want," she smiled, revealing needle-like teeth.

Gaz took them to Thorn.

"Very good Gaz," Thorn smiled. She looked at Zim and Dib. "You two, come with me. Gaz, the virtual reality Game Slave 2 is ready for you."

Gaz bowed and flew off. Thorn levitated Zim and Dib, and took them into the shadows.

Chapter 20

Zim and Dib were each set down in chair. A demon took off their handcuffs them.

"We have to get out of here," said Zim.

"But you just got here," said Thorn as she emerged from the shadows. She sat down in a chair in front of them. "We have so much to talk about."

Dib glanced at Zim. "Do what she says," Zim whispered. The two of them sat back in their chairs and looked at Thorn.

"I must say I admire your bravery," she began. "Most would have surrendered but you two didn't. Why is that?"

"I've worked too hard trying to protect Earth to let you destroy it," Dib said shakily.

"I am an Irken invader. If anyone destroys this planet, it'll be me," Zim said, respectfully but fierce.

"Boys, I'm not going to destroy this planet," Thorn chuckled. "I am simply expanding my empire and taking care of my children."

"What children," Dib asked.

"I think of all my demons as my children," said Thorn. "And it is my job to provide them with a home, food and protection. We feed of the souls of others, but let some survive. Those who survive become one of my demons."

"Oh," Dib thought for a moment. "I guess that's not as bad."

"Yes," said Thorn. "However, this is on the rare occasion I let anyone survive. Most are weak. I don't have time to care for those who don't deserve to live. I actually don't plan on keeping any of the humans. That is except for one, and the only Irken on Earth."

"So I get to live!?" Zim shouted joyfully.

"Yes. And the human that will survive is Dib," Thorn said with a smile. "But first, you must give your loyalty to me. You must leave the Irken Empire and become their enemy. If not, you will be destroyed."

Zim's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. "I WILL NOT BETRAY MY EMPIRE! NO MATTER WHAT!"

"Hmm," Thorn turned to Dib. "What about you, Dib?"

"I'm not going against my people!" Did snapped.

"Very well," Thorn's eyes narrowed. "You can have a one day head start." Thorn left.

Right when Thorn left Zim ran out of the room. Dib followed. Zim ran into his base.

"You're on your own Dib-monkey," said Zim. "GIR! MINIMOOSE! WE'RE LEAVING! Computer, ready the voot, we have to get to the Tallest."

Zim's ship hovered down to Zim. GIR and Minimoose were in the ship. Zim got in. The roof opened up. While Zim wasn't looking, Dib jumped into the storage compartment of Zim's ship.

Chapter 21

The Voot Cruiser was in deep space, heading for the Massive. The ship made a sweeping turn. There was a sudden thumping sound from the storage compartment.

Zim spun around in alarm. "What was that?" Zim asked himself.

The banging sound continues. A faint voice was heard from the back of the Cruiser.  
>"Zim! Let me out!"<p>

"Was that," Zim's face scrunched up in confusion. "DIB-MONKEY?!"

Zim turned around and hit a button on the back of the wall. The hatch to the storage compartment opened. Dib, blinded by the sudden light, squints and winces for a moment. Zim bared his teeth at the human.

Zim was furious. "DIB-STINK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY VOOT CRUISER?!" he screamed. Zim stood there with one eye twitching in rage. "YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT OF MY SHIP RIGHT NOW DIB-STINK!"

Dib's eyes glistened in fear. "I CAN'T! I'LL DIE!"

"WELL YOU CAN'T STAY-"Zim was cut off by the voice of the computer.

"Approaching the Massive," it said.

"Call the Tallests," Zim ordered.

A small screen on the dashboard displayed an image of the Tallests.

"Zim, we're very busy right now. Queen Thorn is back. We don't have time to talk to you," Purple snapped.

"I know my Tallest. I escaped her," said Zim. "I have important information on her. Do I have permission to come aboard, sir?"

Red looked to the screen. "Permission granted, but you better have information on Thorn," he hissed.

"Yes sir."

The Massive's hanger opened up Zim flew into the hanger. Dib sat on the floor next to Zim. Zim glared down at Dib. Dib glanced over at his enemy nervously.

"You're not coming to see the Tallests with me," Zim snapped. "You can be taken prisoner."

"What!" Dib shouted. "But I can help!"

"No you-"

"ZIM!"

Zim was cut off by Red, who was standing next to Purple, glaring down at Zim and Dib.

"What is that?" Purple asked, pointing at Dib.

"A prisoner sir," Zim informed his leader.

Red's eyes shot completely open. "Wait! YOU'RE THE CREATURE WHO WAS FLIRTING WITH MY DAUGHTER!" Red shouted in rage. He picked Dib up by the throat. He began to squeeze Dib's lungs. "TELL ME WHAT MAKE YOU THINK YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE IN MY DAUGHTER'S PRESENCE?!"

"I didn't," Dib gasped for air. "I'm just her friend! Please!"

"Red!" Purple yelled. "We need to focus on Thorn!"

Red thought for a moment before dropping Dib hard on the ground. "I'll deal with you later," he hissed. He turned to Zim. "Zim, we need to hear this information."

Zim nodded and followed his leaders. Did quietly snuck behind them. They entered the control room. The Tallests sat down while Zim stood in front of them and began to tell them what had happened.

"Thank you Zim," said Red. "Did she say anything that could help us defeat her?"

Before Zim could respond Dib spoke. "Her mother defeated her last time. Maybe one of her other family members can help."

Red glared at Dib. Dib stared at the red eyed Irken in terror.

"That's not a bad idea," said Purple. "Send Vix, Siv and Rin a message telling them to come here."

"Yes sir," said an Irken advisor.

Red had been glaring at Dib for ten minutes, before three bursts of light appeared in the room. One was pink, one was red and one was blue.

The pink one formed into an Atuza who was about 5'8. She had pink eyes and a matching star. She had long, bright reddish pink hair pulled back into a long ponytail. She had a pair of goggles resting on her forehead. She had long antennae that were curled into rhombus shapes at the ends.

The blue light formed into an Atuza who stood at around 5'10. She had blue eyes and a matching star. She had long, wavy, light navy blue hair. She had soft, gentle eyes, full of knowledge. Her long antennae were curled into neat ovals at the ends.

The red light formed into a very tall, male Atuza. He was about 6'7. He had dark red eyes and a matching star. He had short, dark red hair. He had some battle scars on his body. He had antennae like Zim and the Tallest, except where they bent down, his were longer. He looked a lot like Tallest Red.

The two girls flew to Red and hugged him. "Hi Dad!" said the pink one. "We missed you!" said the blue one.

The male Atuza gave Red a quick 'man hug'. "Hey Dad."

"Hey you all. I've missed you guys," said Red.

Dib nudged Zim's arm to get his attention. "Who are they?" he asked.

"Those are Tallest Red's children," said Zim. "The one with red eyes is Vix. The one with blue eyes is Siv. Siv and Vix are twins, but Vix is a few minutes older. The one with pink eyes is Rin. She's the middle child. These are Zea's older siblings."

"Wait, why does he have other kids? He tried to kill me!" Dib said in alarm.

"The Tallest is just protective of his family," said Zim. "You'd be a bit over protective if your wife was murdered. Especially if you didn't know who killed her."

Dib remembered Zea saying that her mother was killed. He also remembered Zea saying something about her older siblings.

"Are you all going to say hi to me?" asked Purple.

Red's children went to Purple and gave him hugs. Rin began to look around confused. She went over to her dad.

"Hey Dad," she began. "Where's Zea?"

Red frowned. He told his children what happened to their little sister. The three Atuza were absolutely devastated. They were told how she went to Earth, had a melt-down and supposedly had relations with a human.

"Are you the human?" Siv asked, pointing at Dib.

Dib nodded. Siv bent down to face him. She carefully analyzed Dib. "What transpired before Zea cut?" she asked him.

"Well," Dib was nervous but told the truth. As he explained, Siv continued to study him. "I didn't mean to hurt her," Dib said as he began to panic, fearful that Red would attack him again.

The terrified child felt a sudden comfort. He felt someone grab his chin and lift up his head. He saw that Siv had placed one of her wings on Dib's back. She but her hand on Dib's shoulder.

"Dib, it's okay," she hushed him. "You didn't know Zea would do that." Siv looked at Red. "She became Thorn when she left Earth, right?" Red nodded. She looked back at Dib. "Did she say anything to you after?"

Dib told her how he went to see her. He said how Zea talked about her family and told him about Thorn, hugged him, cried and that she wrapped her tail around him. He talked about how she told him about the star's song. Siv smiled while Vix and Rin looked at each other. Red looked nervous. "And then she fell asleep on me," Dib continued. "And I fell asleep after a while too," he paused. Something happened that he hadn't told anyone about. "I woke up at one point and saw that Zea was snuggled up to me. She woke up too, and she just stared into my eyes. Then she pressed her star against my forehead. It made me feel peaceful and loved. I don't know what it was, but it made me see that I cared for her even though she wasn't human."

Siv smiled. "What you felt was a rare thing. Zea made the Arelsai, or 'connection,' with you, without preforming the ritual. Zea cares greatly for you. Something about you comforts her," Siv thought for a moment. "Are you misunderstood and different from the rest of your people?"

"I guess," said Dib.

"That's how Zea is," Siv told him. "The two of you have a bond stronger than you know. You two understand each other. That's how our mother was," Siv gave him a meaningful look. "You can defeat Thorn."

Everyone looked at each other. "How," Dib asked.

"Think about what helped Zea when she is upset," said Siv.

"Siv is right," said Vix.

Rin nodded. "We will help you get to her."

Vix looked at his father. Red took a deep breath. "I don't know if I trust this child," said Red.

"Dad," Rin hugged her dad. "I know you worry about Zea, but Dib can help. What do you think mom would do?"

Red took a deep breath. "Okay. He can help."

Dib smiled. So did the others. "Zim and Dib can stay with me in my room," said Vix. "We should all get some rest."

"Yes," Red agreed. "Good night kids." He hugged his kids. He grabbed Vix before he could leave. "Make sure Zim doesn't destroy anything," said Red.

Vix nodded. Siv and Rin said goodnight to their brother, Zim and Dib before going into their old rooms. Vix led Zim and Dib into his room. He made two beds on the floor. The three settled down and fell asleep.

The next morning, Siv made everyone breakfast. After eating, Vix took Zim and Dib into the battle simulation room. Zim and Dib were fitted for Atuzan battle armor. They suited up. The armor and weapons looked a lot like Predator's gear. Some of the weapons were an electric whip, a star sharp bow and star shard arrows, a long laser blade, an assortment of energy guns, a shoulder cannon, throwing stars, throwing knifes, different bombs, retractable blades on the lower arm plates and a retractable spear. Vix showed them multiple battle skills and sharpened their agility skills.

"Dad," Vix called to his father, "Set a course for Earth, they're ready."

Chapter 22

Thorn sat in her room. One of her demons entered.

"My Queen," he said. "The Massive has been detected outside of Earth's atmosphere."

"I know. I can feel their presence," she said. "Are our troops ready for battle?"

"Yes."

"Good. Call everyone to the black cliff."

Back on a battle cruiser, thousands of Atuzan warriors and Irken soldiers had been assembled. The all wore armor and had their weapons drawn. "You are brave warriors," said Red. "You will be fighting the Swarm and many of you will not survive. When the doors are open, there will be a blood bath. You will all be remembered for your heroic acts and-"

There was a loud crash against the ship. Long tails began to break through the walls. In a matter of seconds the swarm crashed into the ship. The demons now wore armor similar to the Atuza. They began to jump to any soldier near them. The sound of screams was heard through every corner.

The Atuza began to move out into the open planet. Thorn appeared out of the shadows and let out an unholy roar. She extended the spines on her back and slammed a few soldiers against the ship. Her spikes pierced their skin, making them bleed excessively. She sprung at another warrior and ripped into someone's throat. She saw her brother and jumped at him. He barely missed her long claws. Thorn looked up to her fortress. She flew up and disappeared into the structure.

Vix quickly grabbed Dib and took off into the sky, followed by Siv and Rin. Some of the demons took off after them. Rin turned and shot down one the demons. The creature crashed to the ground. One caught up with them. It grabbed onto Siv's ankle. Siv felt long claws dig into her skin. She screeched in agony. Vix held Dib in his tail as he spun around and drew his spear. He stabbed the creature causing it to release Siv.

"Hold on!" Vix shouted.

Vix crashed through the window into Thorn's room. No one is there. Suddenly Thorn materialized out of the shadows. She delivered a powerful kick to Vix's back. Vix stumbled and looked back at Thorn.

Her dark eyes snapped toward them. She swings around with a plasma bolt whip and strikes Vix. Vix screeched and quickly fired a shot at her. Thorn dissolved into a shadow and avoids the shot before rematerializing. Thorn is about to stab Vix when Rin swooped in the window, carrying Zim. She dropped Zim and he began clawing into Thorn.

Thorn spun around and struck Zim in the face. Blood dripped from his newly cut face.

Thorn stood tall. "Nice try," she chuckled. "Do you really expect to beat me!?"

Siv flew in and pulled back Thorn's arms. "Zea, I know you're in there!" She cried.

Thorn broke out of her grip. She grabbed Siv in one her tails and flung her aside. She turned to see Dib. She began to charge at him when Vix slams into her.

Thorn drew her staff from her back. She swiped it at Vix. It crashed hard into his side. Thorn grabbed Siv and Rin. She smashed their heads together and the fell unconscious. Thorn turned to Dib. She towered over. She picked him up and held him high.

"They thought a child would defeat me?" she chuckled as she squeezed his throat. "They chose you to save Zea when you don't even know her name."

"What do you mean? Her name is Zea!"

"That is her name in this universe."

Dib thought for a moment. He looked at Thorn and noticed something about Thorn. Before he realized what it was, he blacked out from Thorn choking him.

Chapter 23

Dib opened his eyes to see the star filled sky. A twinkling sound made a sweet melody. He looked down to see he was standing above the battle of the swarm. He whirled around.

"Oh God!" he panicked. "I'M DEAD!" he screeched.

He felt a light touch rest on his head. He looked up and say a tall female Atuza. She had bright blue eyes and t matching star. She was covered in blue whirl-like markings and speckles. She had long blue hair with pale blue tips and streaks that reached her knees. She had big feathered wings and looked like an angel.

"Yep, I'm dead," said Dib.

The Atuza chuckled. "No. But you were close," she smiled.

"Who are you?"

"I don't look familiar at all? Think hard."

Dib studied her until it finally hit him. His eyes opened wide. "You're Zea's mother! You're Queen Tilla!"

She nodded. Tilla knelt in front of him.

"But if I'm seeing you, then I'm dead."

"No. I just needed to give you a message."

Tilla gazed softly at Dib. "Thorn is easy to defeat once you understand what to do. Thorn mentioned Zea's name, she gave you a hint. The first thing you need to know is Zea's real name."

"What's her name?"

"When I learned that Zea was possessed by Thornsoul, I named her after what I hoped she would find even in her darkness."

"What's that?"

"Zeavala," Tilla smiled when she said her daughter's name.

Dib gave her a confused look. "That's a word?"

"It is an Atuzan word. It means Harmony."

Dib wasn't expecting that. "Zea's name is Harmony?"

Tilla gave him a soft nod. "When she became Thorn the first time, I feared I lost my daughter. If I was going to lose her, I wanted the last thing she heard her mother say to be her name. That word catches the attention of what is left of Zea. Zea's name encouraged her to fight. As Thorn struggled to control Zea. I pressed my star to hers and put her amulet around her neck. My star helped Zea fight. I gave her the amulet when she was born. It has a light spell that controls the darkness. It helps Zea overcome the dark," Tilla handed him the pendant he had seen Zea wearing at all times.

"That was what was missing," Dib thought out loud. "She isn't wearing the necklace!"

"Exactly," said Tilla.

"But I don't have a star," Dib pointed out.

Tilla ran a claw down his forehead. "Everyone has a star. Sometimes you just can't see them."

Tilla hugged Dib. "It was great meeting you."

Everything faded away.

Chapter 24

Dib woke up to find himself in Thorn's room. The queen was looking down at him.

"Back for another defeat?" she asked coolly.

Dib ran toward her. As he tried to reach her star, Thorn slashed her spiked elbow across his stomach.

Dib pulled out his spear and shoved it into Thorn's back. She grunted in pain. She harshly ripped the spear out of her back. Dib jumped toward her only to have Thorn grab him before he could deliver a hit. Dib kicked her in the stomach, throwing her off balance.

Thorn bore her teeth and glared at him. Thorn whacked him with her tails. More cuts now marked Dib's body.

"Please!" he shouted. "Zeavala!"

Thorn turned and glared at Dib. Thorn suddenly shoved her tails into her back. It was obvious that Zea heard her name and was fighting. Thorn began to throw herself at a wall. Her star began to flicker spots of light blue. Thorn began to claw into herself. Thorn fell and began to squirm and fight herself. She screeched and roared.

Dib finally saw an opening and ran to Thorn. He put his forehead against hers. Thorn let out a deafening scream.

"Zeavala, I know you're in there," he yelled. "You're the first to be a real friend to me! I care about you!"

Thorn was suddenly engulfed in a white light. The light began to grow until it was seen by everyone on the planet. Finally, the light faded. As the glow disappeared, a small figure was revealed, laying on the floor.

Dib cautiously crept over to the figure. He looked at it closely. It was a charred, bruised and scratched up Zea. Dib jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned to see it was Siv. Rin, Vix and Zim were getting to their feet.

"I told you that you could do it," Siv smiled.

Vix got up and picked up his baby sister. Rin was looking out the window. The whole Swarm was gone. There were wounded, dead or healthy warriors scattered about. The land was trashed.

"I think we should make the remaining humans forget about these events," she stated. "Looks like we didn't give Thorn enough time to do too much damage."

Siv walked over to the window and stood next to her sister. "We have a lot of cleaning up to do…"

Zim, Dib, Zea, Siv, Vix and Rin returned to the battle cruiser. The Massive had landed nearby. The six of them entered the Massive and went to the control room to find the Tallest. Red turned to see his children approaching. He ran to Siv and Rin and held them close, covering their faces in kisses. He let them go and looked at Vix. Vix was carrying Zea, who was in deep sleep as she was cradled in her older brother's arms.

Red hugged his son and took Zea in his arms. He stared at her tired face. Careful not to wake her up, he kissed his daughter's star. He looked at Dib. "Thank you," he whispered. "I'm going to put her to bed."

Red set Zea in her bed. He laid down next to his daughter and held her close. He soon fell asleep next to Zea.

Chapter 25

It had been a few weeks since Thorn was defeated. Siv, Vix and Rin had left and everything had been restored to its original state. Gaz was back to normal and had forgotten about being Thorn's apprentice. The humans' minds were wiped clean of the memory of Thorn. Dib had gone back to chasing Zim.

Zim was in his base when the doorbell rang. When he answered the door he was surprised to see Zea and Tallest Red. Zea was still a little beat up from the battle and had a slightly hazy left eye.

"Zea? What are you doing here?" Zim asked.

"I get to come back," she said with a smile. "I feel happy here, so we decided it would be good for my sanity."

Red looked at Zim. "I need to speak with you Zim," he declared. "Zea, go outside for a moment."

Zea obeyed. "Zim, you saw Zea's eye, right?" Zim nodded. "Well it's like that because after she turned back she went blind in one eye again. It's going to take a while to recreate the cure we gave her when she was a smeet. So until then, you need to keep her from getting hurt. Not being able to see in her left eye has thrown her of balance. She's been running into things. Can you just help guide her around?"

Zim saluted Red. "Zea, you can come back," Red called.

Zea slowly came back in. Red and Zea said their goodbyes and Red left.

"Zea," Zim began. "What did the Tallest mean by blind 'again'?"

"You didn't know I was born half blind? Actually it spread to both my eyes by the time I was three," said Zea. "But some Atuzan doctors found a cure."

"I knew that!" Zim said loudly.

"Sure you did," Zea said sarcastically. "I need to get home."

"Your father told me to help guide you."

"I'm fine!" Just as Zea said this she ran into the threshold of the door. "I take back what I said."

Chapter 26

Zea had slept in very late the next day. She woke up around one in the afternoon. She had woken up and watched TV until someone knocked on her door. Zea got dressed and went downstairs to find Dib waiting for her outside.

"I heard you were back, Harmony," he said with smile.

Zea giggled and gave him a hug and Dib hugged her back. Zea wrapped her tail around his leg. Now that Dib knew what that gesture meant, it made him blush. Zea took him inside to have a snack and hangout. She explained her eye so he wouldn't have to ask. Finally nighttime came.

"You told me you would teach me how to hear the stars," said Dib.

Zea smiled and took him to her balcony. "Okay, first, let go of all your fears and doubts. Then, just quiet your mind and make yourself feel at peace."

Dib followed these directions but nothing happened. He saw Zea, who was listening to the stars' sweet melody. He decided to try something else. He gently pulled Zea closer to him. Zea opened her eyes and looked at Dib.

Dib saw that she had noticed. "Sorry."

Zea curled up to him and draped Dib's arm around her neck. "I don't mind," she whispered.

Dib suddenly heard the twinkling stars. "I can kind of hear them."

"Maybe this could help." Zea kissed Dib on the cheek.

The twinkles became vivid and loud. "That helped a lot," he blushed as the words came out of his mouth.

"I thought it would," she whispered.

Zea and Dib soon fell asleep.


End file.
